Treatment of slaughtered animals by injecting a treatment solution into the circulation system of the slaughtered animals provides for improved meat quality and improved yield. Such processing, also called “rinsing,” involves the removal of the blood from the animal and the introduction of the treatment solution into the circulatory system. An exemplary apparatus for administering a treatment solution to animals such as cattle, horses, hogs, poultry, deer, buffalo, sheep among others is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,336, and is incorporated herein by reference. An exemplary slaughtering process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,656, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Treatment of slaughtered animals is complicated by a number of factors. Meat processing centers often have the capacity to process hundreds or even thousands of animals each day. Therefore, high speed processing can be beneficial in order to satisfy the capacity of these large meat processing centers. Automation of the process of injecting a treatment solution can improve processing speed and increase throughput. It is therefore desirable to automate administration of the injection solution during meat processing.
Administration of the treatment solution also should be performed under exacting conditions. For instance, delivery of a treatment solution should occur at a consistent pressure that is high enough to ensure distribution through the entire animal while not rupturing the blood vessels. The treatment process can also be complicated by the desirability of maintaining sanitation of the devices put into contact with the animals and/or retaining the injection nozzle in the animal's circulatory system during treatment.